by Aggelos Skordas
A general alarm was signaled two minutes after midday local time on Wednesday at the Hellenic Air Force operation center when a T-2 training aircraft crashed while flying south of Kalamata, in Peloponnese. Both the pilot and the co-pilot landed safely using the aircraft’s automatic bail out system, were picked up by an Air Force helicopter and were later transferred to the 251 Air Force General Hospital where they underwent medical checkups. The aircraft crashed in the rural Bournias district of Kalamata.
According to the first indications, the aircraft suffered a malfunction in both its engines during the flight. In particular, the shutdown of the second engine forced the crew to abandon the training aircraft shortly before it crashed two nautical miles south of Kalamata. The T-2 took off at 11.00 am from Kalamata. At about 11.55 am, having completed more than 45 minutes in a training mission, the crew informed that one of the two engines had already been decommissioned. The mechanical problem forced them to return to their base. Although, just a few minutes before landing, they also lost their second engine and that led them to abandon the aircraft. An expert in-depth inquiry to investigate the causes of the incident has already been ordered by the Chief of Air Force General Staff.
Both servicemen belong to the 120 Air Training Wing deployed at the southern Peloponnese city of Kalamata. The unit’s mission is to provide the cadets and 2nd Lieutenants with flight training, in order to prepare and make them skilled pilots, able to engage duties and responsibilities as aircraft pilots.
